Tuesday, April 28, 2015 • Hillary Clinton’s 12 dirty words

Publisher’s note: This My Turn (by Greg Knight) originally appeared in the Tuesday, April 28, 2015 edition of the Lassen County Times.

With Senator Ted Cruz entering the fray of the 2016 presidential race last week, I took time to pause and reflect on what the 2016 candidate field may look like.

At this early stage I would be willing to bet, for a number of reasons, that Cruz will not be the nominee and that whoever earns the right to run against the Democrat nominee will likely be far more astute and demonstrably conservative than the senator from Texas.

That said, no matter who comes to the fore on the right, there will be hues and cries from the left going forward over the inevitability (and infallibility) of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic anointed one — and the Clinton political machine is already kicking into high gear over what it considers an “information war” in regard to how journalists cover her.

Case in point: A group of Hillary supporters last week warned New York Times writer Amy Chozik that there is a list of “12 Dirty Words” that should not be used to describe the former secretary of state. That group, HRC Super Volunteers, told Chozik, “We will be watching, reading, listening and protesting coded sexism.”

Last time I checked, there was this curious document, written long ago and far away in the cloisters of New England called the Constitution, which contains those pesky amendments — with the first one promising the freedom to engage in dangerous, offensive speech.

Also, the last time I went to civics class I recall that the president was supposed to support, protect and defend the Constitution.

So here is a little experiment in how a journalist can use 12 “dirty” words to describe Hillary Clinton — and what her election might mean for the residents of Northeastern California.

As a candidate, Clinton brings a polarizing list of past foibles to the table — most of which happened during her tenure as first lady and secretary of state. Whether it was the smear campaign she launched against Monica Lewinsky on behalf of the president, or the Whitewater debacle that saw the calculating and possibly illegal shredding of documents, or even the disingenuous way in which she has handled the Benghazi affair, she has shown she is insincere, ambitious to a fault and believes she is entitled to the inevitable crown of leading this great nation.

In truth, I believe Clinton to be an over-confident and secretive aspirant to the concept of a New World Order that would see the next world war fought in our backyard. She is aligned with the neo-liberal wing of political ideologues that want to rule the world and will pay for it with your tax dollars and submission to what the media tells you.

Moreover, using her past foibles as a map, Clinton will do anything to win and represents the past. She is desperate to keep a grip on the baton of power that was handed to her husband in 1992.

Anyone with half a brain will realize she is out of touch with any level of what we do in our daily lives in Northeastern California — another Clinton administration would welcome not only more war, pestilence and famine, but would also see our beautiful lands cut off from public use, development of natural resources curtailed to even greater lengths and an assured influx of illegal immigrants that don’t speak our language and don’t respect our culture.

Every word denotes the words HRC volunteers want taken out of the debate on Clinton, should she run for the presidency. I call foul on this because, as a journalist, if I am critical of Barack Obama, in any way, the popular consensus is I have to be a racist and should lose my job.

Now, with the Clinton machine firing up, any criticism of Hillary will likely be labeled as sexist and relegated to the fringe.

Journalists and every other type of truth-seeker should be free to say what is unpopular — as long as it is true. There is only one truth, and it cannot be put asunder by political hacks and operatives who seek to push an agenda.

If it starts with 12 words now, what will happen if she makes it to the Oval Office?